Jackson Free Press

Allen Blackwell has an unusual dream: to become the first person to represent Mississippi in the Olympics in the winter sport of skeleton.

Skeleton is a lot like luge, with a few key differences. Lugers lie on their backs and go down the track feet first. In skeleton, participants lie on their stomachs and go down headfirst. In luge, racers use their calves to steer the sled, but in skeleton, they use their shoulders and head to steer.

The 25-year-old Jackson native and former high-school sprinter became interested in skeleton when the sport was reintroduced to the Winter Olympics at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Blackwell first looked into bobsled racing and, after some research, realized he was too small for that sport, but well suited to skeleton. He was 14 when he first tried to make the U.S. skeleton team.

"I sat my whole family down and I got everyone to sit down and watch the 2002 Olympics, the men's and women's skeleton and said, 'This is what I am going to do,'" Blackwell told Mississippi Sports magazine in February 2013.

Skeleton racers reach speeds of up to 80 miles per hour going down the track, typically the same one used for bobsled and luge events.

Blackwell got a step closer to his skeleton dreams when he made it onto the U.S. Skeleton National Team in late October. He then joined the Intercontinental Cup team, which is one step below the top-tier World Cup team.

Blackwell hopes to enter the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The Intercontinental Cup tour begins in Igls, Austria, on Dec. 3.